Annuity Markets

Edmund Cannon and Ian Tonks

Abstract

Governments around the world are responding to the rising ratio of elderly-to-young persons (‘The Pensions Crisis’) by shifting their pension policies away from pay-as-you-go systems towards individual savings schemes. Annuity markets convert retirement savings into an income stream for the lifetime of the pensioner, and understanding how annuity markets function is important for public policy. This book studies these annuity markets. The book starts by outlining the context of public policy towards pensions, and explains the different types of annuities available, focusing on the UK — which h ... More

Governments around the world are responding to the rising ratio of elderly-to-young persons (‘The Pensions Crisis’) by shifting their pension policies away from pay-as-you-go systems towards individual savings schemes. Annuity markets convert retirement savings into an income stream for the lifetime of the pensioner, and understanding how annuity markets function is important for public policy. This book studies these annuity markets. The book starts by outlining the context of public policy towards pensions, and explains the different types of annuities available, focusing on the UK — which has the largest annuity market in the world. It examines how annuities are priced, and describes the techniques of mortality measurement. As a background, it provides a history of annuities, and the experience of annuity markets in a number of other countries. The book outlines the economic theory behind annuities, and explains how annuities insure consumers against longevity risks. It goes on to describe how annuities markets function: how they work and whether they are efficient, leading onto a discussion of the annuity puzzle, including behavioural explanations. The book concludes by discussing the regulatory framework, assets available to back annuity liabilities, and recent developments in annuity markets.

End Matter

PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2020. All Rights Reserved. An individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use. date: 07 June 2020